Study of novels of Margaret Atwood
Keywords:
narrative, Bildungsroman, literature, traditionAbstract
Atwood, a proud Canadian, used literature as a tool to develop her cultural and personal consciousness. "We must know our own literature to know ourselves," she writes in Survival, "and to know ourselves accurately, we need to know it as part of literature as a whole." Since Atwood's writing comes from this tradition, she also relates her own concerns while defining Canadian literature. She believes that survival is the primary reality in Canada, and that the demands of a harsh environment have had a significant impact on both Canadian culture and way of life. According to Atwood, the Canadian quest for territorial identity—or, as literary scholar Northrop Frye phrased it, "Where is here?"—is closely tied to this pivotal act of survival.
References
Anthony, Susan B. On Women's Right to Vote. Learn Out Loud. 4 Mar. 2006
Atwood, Margaret. Bodily Harm. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981.
The Edible Woman. Boston: Little Brown, 1969.
The Handmaid's Tale. New York: Anchor Books, 1998.
Lady Oracle. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976.
Life Before Man. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979.
Surfacing. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972.
Calvalcanti, Ildney. Utopias of/f Language in Contemporary Feminist Literary Dystopias. Utopian Studies 11.2 (2000), 152-181.
Cooke, Nathalie. Margaret Atwood: A Critical Companion. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2004.
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